Friday, January 17, 2014

UN report urges action over rising CO2

The report says governments spend far more on
subsiding fossil fuels than shifting to cleaner energy

The level of greenhouse gases is
rising rapidly and far greater global efforts are needed to tackle the issue, a
leaked UN report has warned. The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says hugely
expensive technology will be needed if the current situation continues. It says CO2 gases grew by 2.2% per year on average in 2000-2010 - almost
twice as high as in 1970-2000.

The UN says the paper - to be published in April - is a work in
progress. The leaked IPCC draft report urges the world community to act without delay
to cut emissions and shift to clean energy. If CO2 gases are allowed to continue growing at their current rate, increased
conservation and efficiency would not be sufficient to counter their impact, the
document says.

It accuses governments of spending far more on subsiding fossil fuels than
switching to cleaner energy. And the document identifies economic growth and population growth as two main
drivers for the rising greenhouse emissions.

In 2009, politicians from around the world took a decision at the Copenhagen
climate conference to try to limit long-term global average temperature
increases to 2C (36F).

This, it was said, was the point above which dangerous changes to the planet
would occur. I think we have already arrived at that stage. Even now, it would take thousands of years to return the earth to a biodiverse, clean and balanced ecosystem, with normal weather.